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| Surfers' comments |
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The threshold limits on tax need to be increased and tax rates should be spread across more slabs so as not to hurt the salaried class.
- Jayaraman
The I-T exemption for men should be Rs 1.8 lakh. Rs 1.5 lakh is peanuts. - Naveen Kumar |
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| Expert comments |
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 Gaurav Taneja,
Partner & National Tax Director says the Finance Minister has stressed on buoyancy in tax collections and on attaining a Tax—GDP ratio of 12.5%. |
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 Motilal Oswal, Chairman and Managing Director of Motilal Oswal Financial Services says the Finance Minister was uniquely positioned to present a landmark Budget. |
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 Srinivasa Rao, Partner & India International Tax Leader, Ernst & Young is of the opinion that Union Budget has lived up to the populist trend. |
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| Union Budget 2008-09 » Story |
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| Expand telecom infrastructure, R&D: Economic Survey |
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| Indo-Asian News Service |
| New Delhi, February 28, 2008 |
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Since India is one of the world's fastest growing telecom markets with a user base of 272.88 million, the sector needs to expand telecom infrastructure and research and development (R&D), said the Economic Survey for 2007-08.
"With the rapid growth of the telecom network, there is a need to further expand the telecom infrastructure and research and development. This would require infusion of funds and strengthening of the domestic telecom manufacturing sector," the annual survey presented by Finance Minister P Chidambaram in the Lok Sabha on Thursday said.
"The development of special economic zones (SEZs) facilitates better telecom services, which will help in making India a hub for telecom manufacturing."
The government has also decided to set up a Telecom Testing and Security Certification Centre (TETC) for communication security, research and monitoring, the survey added.
To hasten growth of telecom in rural areas, the government has proposed to set up 200 million telephone connections by 2010, an increase of 25 per cent from the current 7.9 per cent with 63.68 million rural telephone connections.
The country broadband connection also continued to remain tardy with the number of its subscribers growing to 2.80 million in December 31, 2007, compared to 2.28 million in March 31 earlier in the year.
The government has set a target of 20 million broadband connections by 2010.
The sector has experienced foreign capital inflows of Rs 207.18 billion from August 1991 to July 2007, which is 8.1 per cent of the total foreign capital inflows into the country during the period, the survey said. |
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| Features |
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A budget for Bharat
Buoyant tax revenues a lower fiscal deficit and an economy that's in top gear permit the FM to pump big money into agriculture and the social sector. Those efforts might help at the hustings, too. |
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| Economic Survey |
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'Expand telecom infrastructure, R&D'
"With rapid growth of telecom network, there is a need to further expand the infrastructure and research and development," the survey said. |
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| Surfers' comments |
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This is a very good budget, especially for agriculture and education. P Chidambaram is the best.
- By Saravanan P (plsharavanan@rediffmail.com) |
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If you can waive Rs 50,000 crore for farmers what about the tax on housing loan interest? That should also have been reduced.
- Chandra Shekar V (rilshekar@yahoo.co.in) |
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Please tax the street hawkers and give relief to the salaried persons.
- Rajaram (rajaramghurup@rediffmail.com) |
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This is the worst budget the finance minister has ever presented. The backbone of the country's economy is the transport but he completely missed it out.
- Jayakaanthan A (jayakaanthan@gmail.com) |
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The budget is sure to augment growth and will also lessen the volatility of the stock markets.
- Sidharth Paul (sidharth.paul@gmail.com) |
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Overall, the budget is satisfactory but the health sector should have been given greater importance.
- Ankit Chaudhary (chaudharyankit1987@gmail.com) |
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| Send your feedback |
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"Total reduction of excise duties by 2% will give a welcome boost to the manufacturing sector. Also, the exemption of specified parts of set-top boxes from customs duties is commendable".
